A Karaoke Space Odyssey
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Sci-Fi, Romantic Comedy
This film is about aliens, love, and karaoke. Stella and Joe embark upon an intergalactic adventure, seeking companionship in a universe where it's hard to find.
A Karaoke Space Odyssey
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Sci-Fi, Romantic Comedy
3 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $17,120 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
195 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
This film is about aliens, love, and karaoke. Stella and Joe embark upon an intergalactic adventure, seeking companionship in a universe where it's hard to find.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
This story follows Stella, a young undocumented immigrant as she struggles to find meaningful connections in her new home. Living in constant fear of getting deported, she feels completely isolated in the busy streets of LA. Her safe haven is Galaxy Karaoke, where she works the front desk. There, she meet Joe, a strange young man who wants to learn how to sing. They seem to be getting along until Joe turns out to be an extra terrestrial on the run from the FBI.
After a rigorous selection process, this project has been selected as a thesis film at the Film & Television Production graduate program at USC School of Cinematic Arts.
A Karaoke Space Odyssey came about in two ways.
First, it’s inspired by my experience of finding comfort and connection in a karaoke group after deciding to quit my lofty day job back in the Philippines. Anyone who was struggling with adulthood, and who needed to belt out their frustration through singing, was invited to join. I was never much of a Karaoke person, but the solace I found in this group helped me during a strange period in my life.
The second came about when I moved to Los Angeles to attend film school at the height of a global pandemic, and when identity and immigration were such hot topics in the US. Admittedly, this isn’t my first time living in a new country. The feelings of alienation and isolation, due to being treated as an other by the people around me (both in big and small ways), aren’t exactly new to me.
However, in many “immigration stories” I have seen, this side is rarely discussed. More often, these stories revolve around our immigration status - its legal implications - rather than the small and intimate ways it affects our lives (such as how we experience romance, friendship, etc.) I wanted to tell an immigrant’s story that isn’t necessarily about immigration per se.
- Achim
(Tone & Style references: Blade Runner 2049, Paris, Texas, In the Mood for Love, LaLa Land)
The visual style will be colorful, eclectic, and cinematic. Our characters find solace, hope, and joy in karaoke–in the confined, colorful, and intimate spaces karaoke takes place in.
The initial pacing of the movie will be fast. At times, it could even be jarring and awkward.
As our characters get to understand each other better, pacing will slow to focus on their relationship. The moments become pronounced as the characters begin to find comfort and validation in each other’s company.
(Tone & Style references continued: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Euphoria, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Moonlight, Lost in Translation)
Galaxy Karaoke is full of color - neon lights illuminate Joe and Stella’s world. They bring light into each other’s worlds - slowly shattering the dark, cold, and dull spaces that they had built for themselves.
Shot digital with film grain added in post - this will give the film a retro-futuristic feel.
Shot on wide lenses to get a feel for space and pushing in on faces to achieve the distorted alien-like look - This is how Stella sees the world.
Seed & Spark requires that we raise at least 80% of our goal for the project to be funded. We must reach this goal in 30 days or we won't receive any funds at all.
We really hope you donate to our campaign! The funds raised through this campaign will help us:
- Create out of this world VFX
- Cover the costs of transportation to and from set
- Support our gear rentals, set decoration, props, and wardrobe
- Feed us and our hard working crew well :) a well fed set is a happy set
The biggest thing you can do to help our campaign is to spread the word. Share our campaign with everyone you know from your mom to the aliens on Mars!
Follow us on Instagram @akaraokespaceodyssey, you can learn more about the powerhouse behind A Karaoke Space Odyssey and the “look” this movie will have. We post lots of fun updates there!
Finally, you can follow us right here on Seed&Spark! It won't cost you anything, and every new follower helps our campaign grow and attracts more and more people to the project.
Thank you so much for your support!
– The "A Karaoke Space Odyssey" Team
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Camera Equipment
Costs $8,000
This film will look the best it possibly can with the best cameras and lenses out there!
Production Design
Costs $3,000
Our production designer needs the funding to build Joe's spaceship to make this script come to life!
Meals & Crafty
Costs $2,500
The most important part of any set - meals! We would like to provide nutritious meals to our team.
Costumes
Costs $2,000
Aliens and karaoke means our characters are dressing well with the help of our costume designer!
Hair & Makeup
Costs $2,000
Our hair and makeup team need to create an alien and need some funds to do it well.
Music
Costs $800
If we're going to sing and fall in love with an alien, we'll need music while doing it!
Stella's Studio
Costs $500
We'll need a small studio apartment to introduce you to Stella's chaotic world
Share this update!
About This Team
Achim Mendoza // Co-writer & Director
An ex-Filipino-soap-opera-translator-turned-filmmaker, Achim Mendoza has pursued a diverse array of interests. His passion in film started in his teens, when Marilou Diaz-Abaya, a prestigious Filipino director offered to mentor him. As a teenager, Achim would fly back and forth between his hometown of Davao and Manila to attend her classes. Back in the Philippines, he helped create “Stages Sessions,” a YouTube channel that focuses on indie Filipino musicians and poets. His 2021 musical short “Connection” has been doing the rounds in the festival circuit and was most recently screened at the 38th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. He is currently taking an MFA in Film and TV Production at USC and is the recipient of the prestigious Annenberg Fellowship Award. In his spare time, Achim likes to perfect his family’s longsilog recipe.
Sayali Upadhye // Producer
Sayali is a multi-faceted filmmaker, designer, artist, and storyteller from Pune, India. Her love for stories goes all the way back to her childhood when her grandmother narrated the stories from Indian mythology. The epic stories played a vital role in developing her keen interest in social problems and the human psyche. She further explored stories through visual arts at the ADT University, India, where she studied Product and Communication Design. Her undying passion for film led her to Los Angeles, where she is currently a graduate student at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Along with directing and producing, she hopes to be a showrunner of a TV show and is already taking steps towards it. Her latest achievement is working as a showrunner on an original drama series produced at USC, where she co-wrote and produced the pilot episode. She is currently developing an original sitcom inspired by her adventures in LA. Sayali strongly values art, design, and architecture, which she often features in her directorial work. Always found with a film camera and a sketchbook, in her free time, she is often visiting local coffee shops and scouting rare art and furniture in thrift stores.
Bobbie Green // Co-writer & Producer
Bobbie is a filmmaker and writer hailing from New York. She graduated in 2019 from Mount Holyoke College with a double major in Film Studies and Politics. She’s worked at Tribeca Film Institute, National Geographic, and Marvel Entertainment creating work for their social media platforms and websites. After graduating college, she started to work at a local independent movie theater that showed movies on film and fell in love with analog filmmaking. When the theater shut down during the Covid lockdown, she taught herself how to develop 35mm color film and started developing friends and family’s old rolls in her parent’s basement. She is currently an MFA candidate at USC School of Cinematic Arts in the Film and Television Production program focusing on producing, directing, and writing. In her free time, she hangs out with her little poodle dude Rooster and they both say hi to the hummingbirds who visit the balcony of her LA apartment.
Ximena Davis // Director of Photography
Ximena Davis is an avid science fiction and film fan, as well as a Cinematographer, Writer, and Director. She began her film career in documentary and independent productions, and as Founder and President of the first Filmmaking Club at her undergraduate institution, Kalamazoo College. Her feature length documentary, “Culture You Can Eat”, was screened at multiple film festivals across the country and received Honors from Kalamazoo College, where she graduated in 2019. In 2020, she had the honor of being one of the Directors of Photography for the independent film, The Ninth Raider, which partnered with NFT Blue and Ark.io to merge digital currency and art in the film world. Currently, she is an MFA Candidate at USC’s prestigious School of Cinematic Arts where her love of film has led to many collaborations as a writer, director, producer, and Cinematographer. She is working towards one day having her own production company and is currently developing a TV series about her various escapades in and around LA. When not on set, you can find her hiking, at comic book shops and art shows, scouting out the best vegetarian restaurants in LA, and playing Dungeons & Dragons.
Trey Sutton // Associate Producer
Trey Sutton, MFA student at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, is so excited to be working with these amazing folks as Associate Producer. A graduate from Wake Forest University, he moved to the West Coast to pursue a career in producing and development. He loves working together to create stories that represent and connect all people. “I want to tell stories that are true, even if they’re fictional.” He recently started Alien Church Productions, a new film company founded in the belief that great stories can come from anyone, anywhere. In addition to filmmaking, the vast majority of his time is spent cooking and baking, to varied levels of success.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
This story follows Stella, a young undocumented immigrant as she struggles to find meaningful connections in her new home. Living in constant fear of getting deported, she feels completely isolated in the busy streets of LA. Her safe haven is Galaxy Karaoke, where she works the front desk. There, she meet Joe, a strange young man who wants to learn how to sing. They seem to be getting along until Joe turns out to be an extra terrestrial on the run from the FBI.
After a rigorous selection process, this project has been selected as a thesis film at the Film & Television Production graduate program at USC School of Cinematic Arts.
A Karaoke Space Odyssey came about in two ways.
First, it’s inspired by my experience of finding comfort and connection in a karaoke group after deciding to quit my lofty day job back in the Philippines. Anyone who was struggling with adulthood, and who needed to belt out their frustration through singing, was invited to join. I was never much of a Karaoke person, but the solace I found in this group helped me during a strange period in my life.
The second came about when I moved to Los Angeles to attend film school at the height of a global pandemic, and when identity and immigration were such hot topics in the US. Admittedly, this isn’t my first time living in a new country. The feelings of alienation and isolation, due to being treated as an other by the people around me (both in big and small ways), aren’t exactly new to me.
However, in many “immigration stories” I have seen, this side is rarely discussed. More often, these stories revolve around our immigration status - its legal implications - rather than the small and intimate ways it affects our lives (such as how we experience romance, friendship, etc.) I wanted to tell an immigrant’s story that isn’t necessarily about immigration per se.
- Achim
(Tone & Style references: Blade Runner 2049, Paris, Texas, In the Mood for Love, LaLa Land)
The visual style will be colorful, eclectic, and cinematic. Our characters find solace, hope, and joy in karaoke–in the confined, colorful, and intimate spaces karaoke takes place in.
The initial pacing of the movie will be fast. At times, it could even be jarring and awkward.
As our characters get to understand each other better, pacing will slow to focus on their relationship. The moments become pronounced as the characters begin to find comfort and validation in each other’s company.
(Tone & Style references continued: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Euphoria, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Moonlight, Lost in Translation)
Galaxy Karaoke is full of color - neon lights illuminate Joe and Stella’s world. They bring light into each other’s worlds - slowly shattering the dark, cold, and dull spaces that they had built for themselves.
Shot digital with film grain added in post - this will give the film a retro-futuristic feel.
Shot on wide lenses to get a feel for space and pushing in on faces to achieve the distorted alien-like look - This is how Stella sees the world.
Seed & Spark requires that we raise at least 80% of our goal for the project to be funded. We must reach this goal in 30 days or we won't receive any funds at all.
We really hope you donate to our campaign! The funds raised through this campaign will help us:
- Create out of this world VFX
- Cover the costs of transportation to and from set
- Support our gear rentals, set decoration, props, and wardrobe
- Feed us and our hard working crew well :) a well fed set is a happy set
The biggest thing you can do to help our campaign is to spread the word. Share our campaign with everyone you know from your mom to the aliens on Mars!
Follow us on Instagram @akaraokespaceodyssey, you can learn more about the powerhouse behind A Karaoke Space Odyssey and the “look” this movie will have. We post lots of fun updates there!
Finally, you can follow us right here on Seed&Spark! It won't cost you anything, and every new follower helps our campaign grow and attracts more and more people to the project.
Thank you so much for your support!
– The "A Karaoke Space Odyssey" Team
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Camera Equipment
Costs $8,000
This film will look the best it possibly can with the best cameras and lenses out there!
Production Design
Costs $3,000
Our production designer needs the funding to build Joe's spaceship to make this script come to life!
Meals & Crafty
Costs $2,500
The most important part of any set - meals! We would like to provide nutritious meals to our team.
Costumes
Costs $2,000
Aliens and karaoke means our characters are dressing well with the help of our costume designer!
Hair & Makeup
Costs $2,000
Our hair and makeup team need to create an alien and need some funds to do it well.
Music
Costs $800
If we're going to sing and fall in love with an alien, we'll need music while doing it!
Stella's Studio
Costs $500
We'll need a small studio apartment to introduce you to Stella's chaotic world
Share this update!
About This Team
Achim Mendoza // Co-writer & Director
An ex-Filipino-soap-opera-translator-turned-filmmaker, Achim Mendoza has pursued a diverse array of interests. His passion in film started in his teens, when Marilou Diaz-Abaya, a prestigious Filipino director offered to mentor him. As a teenager, Achim would fly back and forth between his hometown of Davao and Manila to attend her classes. Back in the Philippines, he helped create “Stages Sessions,” a YouTube channel that focuses on indie Filipino musicians and poets. His 2021 musical short “Connection” has been doing the rounds in the festival circuit and was most recently screened at the 38th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. He is currently taking an MFA in Film and TV Production at USC and is the recipient of the prestigious Annenberg Fellowship Award. In his spare time, Achim likes to perfect his family’s longsilog recipe.
Sayali Upadhye // Producer
Sayali is a multi-faceted filmmaker, designer, artist, and storyteller from Pune, India. Her love for stories goes all the way back to her childhood when her grandmother narrated the stories from Indian mythology. The epic stories played a vital role in developing her keen interest in social problems and the human psyche. She further explored stories through visual arts at the ADT University, India, where she studied Product and Communication Design. Her undying passion for film led her to Los Angeles, where she is currently a graduate student at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Along with directing and producing, she hopes to be a showrunner of a TV show and is already taking steps towards it. Her latest achievement is working as a showrunner on an original drama series produced at USC, where she co-wrote and produced the pilot episode. She is currently developing an original sitcom inspired by her adventures in LA. Sayali strongly values art, design, and architecture, which she often features in her directorial work. Always found with a film camera and a sketchbook, in her free time, she is often visiting local coffee shops and scouting rare art and furniture in thrift stores.
Bobbie Green // Co-writer & Producer
Bobbie is a filmmaker and writer hailing from New York. She graduated in 2019 from Mount Holyoke College with a double major in Film Studies and Politics. She’s worked at Tribeca Film Institute, National Geographic, and Marvel Entertainment creating work for their social media platforms and websites. After graduating college, she started to work at a local independent movie theater that showed movies on film and fell in love with analog filmmaking. When the theater shut down during the Covid lockdown, she taught herself how to develop 35mm color film and started developing friends and family’s old rolls in her parent’s basement. She is currently an MFA candidate at USC School of Cinematic Arts in the Film and Television Production program focusing on producing, directing, and writing. In her free time, she hangs out with her little poodle dude Rooster and they both say hi to the hummingbirds who visit the balcony of her LA apartment.
Ximena Davis // Director of Photography
Ximena Davis is an avid science fiction and film fan, as well as a Cinematographer, Writer, and Director. She began her film career in documentary and independent productions, and as Founder and President of the first Filmmaking Club at her undergraduate institution, Kalamazoo College. Her feature length documentary, “Culture You Can Eat”, was screened at multiple film festivals across the country and received Honors from Kalamazoo College, where she graduated in 2019. In 2020, she had the honor of being one of the Directors of Photography for the independent film, The Ninth Raider, which partnered with NFT Blue and Ark.io to merge digital currency and art in the film world. Currently, she is an MFA Candidate at USC’s prestigious School of Cinematic Arts where her love of film has led to many collaborations as a writer, director, producer, and Cinematographer. She is working towards one day having her own production company and is currently developing a TV series about her various escapades in and around LA. When not on set, you can find her hiking, at comic book shops and art shows, scouting out the best vegetarian restaurants in LA, and playing Dungeons & Dragons.
Trey Sutton // Associate Producer
Trey Sutton, MFA student at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, is so excited to be working with these amazing folks as Associate Producer. A graduate from Wake Forest University, he moved to the West Coast to pursue a career in producing and development. He loves working together to create stories that represent and connect all people. “I want to tell stories that are true, even if they’re fictional.” He recently started Alien Church Productions, a new film company founded in the belief that great stories can come from anyone, anywhere. In addition to filmmaking, the vast majority of his time is spent cooking and baking, to varied levels of success.